about poetry, or more specifically, about finding poems

There's this great new blog that one of my internet friends started-- it's called Found Poems and basically the idea is very simple.

You leave a poem-- any poem-- in a public place for someone else to find.

Here's what my friend has to say about it:

Hello!

My name is Beth and I’m the admin of found-poems, a new blog/poetry initiative.
The aim of found-poems is to spread poetry, language and writing as well as give a voice to both poets and the lovers of poetry who wish to spread the writing that they love.

Basically, you simply leave a poem somewhere (one of your own or one that you want to “give”) such as inside a library book, on a bus seat, in a bathroom cubicle (although vandalism is discouraged). All you need to do is write the URL of this blog somewhere on it! You can take a picture if you’re leaving one somewhere and submit it to this blog, and if you find one please submit a picture, or the poem itself.

I hope you enjoy this blog!

Basically, I think this is a super cool idea and I've already left behind several poems myself. (in a shoe store and in a movie theatre, respectively.)

So please check out Found Poems and help us make it amazing!

Gregor the Overlander

Gregor the Overlander (the Underland Chronicles book 1)
by Suzanne Collins

Genre: Sci-fi/epic/maybe some other stuff

Other Novels in Series:
Gregor and the Prophesy of Bane
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
Gregor and the Marks of Secret
Gregor and the Code of Claw

Rating: Recommended, definitely. At least try the first one.

What I Liked:
-Boots. Bootsbootsbootsbootsboots. She's this tiny little girl, and when I first read the series my own little sister was the exact same age, so I feel 100% completely justified to say that she was wonderfully realistic and totally loveable. And she adds such a lovely angle to the story. I love how Gregor takes such good care of her, and how she couldn't be more oblivious to the danger surrounding her. They're adorable and so human. And that's also an element you rarely see in books like these-- really young characters who act their age and are actually majorly important and wonderful characters in their own right.
-the setting. I enjoyed the little details that were put into it.
-Ripred. If he wasn't a giant talking rat, I'd think he was related to Haymitch Abernathy.
-the twisty-turny-prophesy-y endings.
-Temp. Who knew you could fall in love with a person sized talking cockroach, right? Actually, I liked a lot of the roaches. They were an interesting species.

What I Did Not Like:
-at times this book is very oppressive. It isn't ever familiar or comfortable-- the entire setting is alien. While I really liked this, at times it did get hard to read. I know at least one person who tried to read it but couldn't get through the first book. (said person is a huge Hunger games fan, FYI)
-the themed names. It seems like a small quip (and, in fact, it is) but I found it annoying. On the other hand, my sister loved it. 
-Luxa. Another small quip. I did not find her character appealing or likeable, and all romance surrounding her felt contrived. I found her boring and a bit undeveloped. Still, I appreciate her role and I think it was what was necessary for the story.
-the end of the series. (Sorry.) It seemed... like it didn't quite follow. Actually I felt this way about the whole last book, it was like it took a completely different path from the others.
-there did seem to be a tiny bit of a personal touch missing-- I grew very, very fond of many of the characters, but there were so many little pieces of backstory that I wanted to know but never learned. I was so curious about their lives, but most of the time I didn't get anything.

Comparison to the Hunger Games:
-I felt this was a necessary addition to this review, as it seems to me that Gregor is often treated as the unloved stepsister to the Hunger Games. Even with the huge popularity of THG, I have yet to come across any fans of Gregor, or even anyone who actually knows what it is.
-Gregor is in many ways very, very dark. There is, of course, the literal darkness of the setting, the Underland, but there's also just such a dark plot. Still, most of the time it doesn't come off as dark and dangerous as THG, probably because of the differing premises and differing writing styles. Still, there are so many small lines throughout that remind you that this is not a happy book, even more than the obviously unhappy plot.
-as I probably just said, the writing style differs a lot between the two books. THG is first person. Gregor is limited third person. Even beyond that, the way the characters and settings are portrayed reads very differently. at least to me.

Personal Thoughts:
-this is a good book for a long car trip... there's an audio version with a reader I really like.
-there will never, ever be a movie for this book. Although can you imagine one done in the style of the Secret of Kells? that would be awesome. Still, way too much darkness. You'd spend an hour in the movie theatre looking at a black screen.
-this book does have a very special place in my heart.
-Twitchtip is my favorite ever.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games (Hunger Games series book 1)
by Suzanne Collins

Other Novels in Series:
Catching Fire
Mockingjay

Rating: Recommended to all those who don't mind emotional distress.

What I Liked:
-the writing style. I usually don't really care for first person, but I think it worked well for this novel.
-the setting. I found it well developed and quite interesting.
-the connection with Roman history. Having been home-schooled, I ended up mistakenly learning about Rome for three and a half years of history, and I basically love it. I loved seeing the similarities in the Hunger Games to Ancient Rome and to modern-day America, and now it seems that more people are willing to talk with me about the connections between the things. Hallelujah.
-the plot. especially in the first book, the plot is very straight forward and easy to follow, which isn't always common in literature.

What I Did Not Like:
-Prim. Everything the main character does is for Prim, but I don't see why. Prim never did anything that wold make me like her. She seems like a flat little cardboard child.
-the romance. Actually, I did like the Katniss/Peeta thing, and let's be frank, the novel wouldn't really go on without that whole subplot. But I felt the whole love triangle thing was contrived and confusing and didn't really fit very well into the story.

Personal Thoughts:
-Peeta is probably the most likeable character, besides maybe Rue.
-Harry Potter fans and Hunger Games fans are friends. THANK YOU. I don't think I can handle more fandom hate.
-I listened to the second of this series on my i-pod while making dinner. I salted our meal with my tears.

Links:
-Divergent vs. the Hunger Games (blog post by one of the people I follow) This puts into words some of the things I liked about the Hunger Games.

Other:
-there's a movie, in case you haven't seen the trailers. I actually really loved the movie. Movies for the rest of the series have not been released yet, but are coming soon.

Poem of the Week

Abandoned Farmhouse
 By Ted Kooser

He was a big man, says the size of his shoes

on a pile of broken dishes by the house;

a tall man too, says the length of the bed

in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,

says the Bible with a broken back

on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;

but not a man for farming, say the fields

cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.

A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall

papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves

covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,

says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.

Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves

and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.

And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames.

It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.

Something went wrong, says the empty house

in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields

say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars

in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.

And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard

like branches after a storm--a rubber cow,

a rusty tractor with a broken plow,

a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.

Maximum Ride Novel Series

Maximum Ride
by James Patterson

Novels in Series:
The Angel Experiment
School's Out-- Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Final Warning
MAX
FANG
ANGEL
Nevermore

Rating: I would recommend it, but only to a close friend who's dying of boredom.

What I Liked:
-the idea. Everyone always whines about how "unoriginal" a story about a group of escapee science experiments/superhuman children is, but honestly? Who cares? It's a fun base story and I love it.
-the readability. It wasn't hard to read, it wasn't insanely long. It was a fun read and didn't take me a lifetime. I don't really feel like I wasted time, at least not with the first one.
-some of the characters.

What I Did Not Like:
-the writing. It was messy and awkward. The chapters were weirdly short, and sometimes Mr. Patterson would skip over parts of the story.
-most of the characters. They were bland and seemed to serve one purpose alone-- stick to the plot and keep it moving. None of them were really developed at all.
-the plot holes. One could fill most of these holes with little effort, but Mr. Patterson couldn't be bothered. I personally have developed multiple headcanons explaining basically everything. Yeah, whatever.

Personal Thoughts:
-I was actually extremely in love with this series for a while. Like, obsessed to the point of ridiculousness.
-this was the first "grown up" book I read... after being dissatisfied by it, I went back to reading kid's books.
-James Patterson plays poker with Richard Castle. WOAH
-This series actually lends itself pretty well to graphic novel form-- and, of course, there are graphic novels to check out! I'd recommend those more than the actual novels.

Links:
Maximum Ride Spork*
*a spork is usually a malicious device used to starve KFC patrons, but it is also used to describe a certain kind of exaggerated review where the writer of the spork goes over each chapter of a novel and complains about everything that they don't like.

Twilight (Stephanie Meyer)

 Rating: I would not read this again, nor would I bother recommending it.

What I Liked:
-the description of Bella's truck. Seems like a small thing, but that truck was really a nice background piece.
-it was soap-opera-y. While most people might consider that a con, I rather enjoyed the drama. Yes, it was dumb. And yes, it is okay to like dumb things. I liked the dumb in this book. It was fun.
-I did like that it was set in Washington. I actually wish they'd shown more of the setting.

What I Did Not Like:
-it was too long. It is one thing to push aside everything for a few hours and read a fluff book (and this is a fluff book, definitely), but I'm a very fast reader and this book took me over a day to read. In other words, what I read wasn't worth the time I spent reading it.
-the characters felt flat and dull. It takes a truly remarkable character to utterly disinterest me-- even the blandest background character usually sparks my interest. I like projecting my own personalities on said characters. But the fact is, I couldn't even do that with these characters. They were just names, with nothing even mildly interesting for my imagination to build on.

Personal Thoughts:
-I really wanted to like this book. I really did. I had a bunch of friends who liked it and I wanted to like it for their sake.
-In a way, I did actually like it. It was great to just turn off my brain for a day and read it. It gave me a pleasurable day of doing nothing. But at the end of the day, I don't think I took away a single scrap of... anything from this novel. Most of the time, no matter how bland the novel is, at least one character or idea catches my fancy. Not so for this novel.

you may also be interested:
-also, there are movies. In case you somehow managed to miss the trailers that play almost non-stop.

Out of My Mind

Out of My Mind
by Sharon M. Draper

My Rating:☺☺☺☺☺

My Review:

Melody is an eleven-year old girl who has never spoken a single word. This is because she was born with cerebral palsey-- which, in turn, means that she is totally paralized. (With the exception of her thumbs... which, for some ironic reason, work perfectly.

Many people assume that Melody is also mentally handicapped, but when she receives a special machine that allows her to speak for the first time, she begins to show her true abilities; she's a genius! Not everyone is thrilled that she is finally released from her fish bowl, however. (Did you catch my allusion to the cover? Now I feel really clever.)

This was an amazing book on several levels. One, the cover was awesome (I keep going back to that... why?), two, the characters were awesome, three, the story was awesome. The author did not sugarcoat anything, which in today's fiction seems like a very rare and pleasurable thing.

The Girl Who Could Fly

The Girl Who Could FlyBy Victoria Forester


My Rating:
☺☺☺☺☺

My Review:As tons of people like to quote, "The Girl Who Could Fly is the sweetest, oddest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men." (Stephanie Mayer, author of Twilight)
I loved it, especially the characters. On shelfari (a social networking site revolving around books) I have persuaded several people to read it, all of whom loved the story and the characters, just as I did.

The story revolves around Piper McCloud, a young girl with an incredible power: she has the ability to fly. Piper lives in Lowland Country, and unfortunately, the neighboring people are afraid of her. So, as her mother and father really have no idea about flying, she decides to attend a top-secret, maximum security school for special children. Here she meets several interesting children: Daisy, who is super-strong, Smitty, who has x-ray vision, and most importantly, Conrad, who is the genius with a mean streak.

The school seems great! However, there may be several secrets that may change the way the children see it forever..... if they survive, that is....

The Clerihew

The biocomic verse commonly known as the clerihew derived its name from Edmund Clerihew Bentley, an English author, who wrote an anthology by that title in 1906.
A clerihew consists of two couplets of differing rhymes and rhythms with the opening line citing the subject's name and the remaining three lines describing his or her attributes. The subject is often a famous person, but it's also a lot of fun to write this poem about random people that you know :D

Here's one I wrote about E.C. Bently himself:

Edmund Clerihew Bentley,
MUST HAVE thought intently,
The clerihew is what he cooked up,
So let us toast our champagne cup!


Also, for help finding words that rhyme in any poetry writing you attempt, check out this website:
RhymeZone.com
It's a online dictionary of rhyming words! Have fun, y'all!

Found

Found
By Margret Peterson Haddix

Other Books in series:
Sent
Sabotaged (August 24, 2010)

My Rating:
☺☺☺☺

My Review:
Jonah has always known that he was adopted. It's always been a fact in his life, and it's never made that much of an impact in the way he's lived. At least, not until he starts getting mysterious letters implying that he is one of the "missing"
With the help of his younger sister, Katherine, and his friend, Chip, (who also happens to be receiving the mysterious letters and is adopted), he gets mixed up in a thrilling mystery involving time travel, odd janitors, FBI agents, and Chip and Jonah's mysterious and secretive pasts.

I highly recommend this book. Margret Peterson Haddix tells the story in an extremely convincing way. My only gripes are that occasionally a few of the parts were somewhat slow and boring, while others were too fast and action-packed to really tell what was going on. Four stars!